FIFA Ban: I’ll Clear My Name – Siasia

Samson Siasia has vowed to clear his name after world governing body FIFA banned him yesterday from football following an allegation of match-fixing brought against him.

FIFA released a statement on Friday that the adjudicatory chamber of their independent Ethics Committee found that Siasia was “guilty of having accepted that he would receive bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics.”

However, Siasia who was in charge of Nigeria from 2010-11 and in 2016 was also in charge of the country’s U-20 and U-23 sides expressed shock and anger at his ban adding that he never received any letter from FIFA.

“I don’t know anything about this. I did nothing wrong and I have not received any letter from FIFA. How can you ban someone who was never given a chance to defend himself. I will fight and clear name,” Siasia stated.

Just last month, the aged mother of the 51-year-old Siasia who played 51 times as a striker for the Nigerian national team was kidnapped in his country home in Bayelsa and was yet to be released by her abductors.

The case is the latest to emerge from FIFA’s long-running investigation into the activities of Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal, who FIFA has called a “known match fixer” and who has admitted such activity in several interviews.

FIFA said that Siasia was banned for life “from all football-related activities(administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level.”

Siasia has also been fined CHF 50,000 ($51,051.66).

However, FIFA’s Ethics Committee was yet to publicly state the games that Siasia is said to have fixed with the notorious Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal, whose dirty involvement with African football is well-known – South Africa and Zimbabwe being notorious cases.